Max Verstappen topped the second practice session in Monaco just ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.
Today was the first day of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend as Formula 1 returned after last week’s cancellation due to the flooding in Imola. Monaco is the crown jewel of the calendar and every driver will be hoping they can win it all this weekend.
Verstappen took the lead early in the session with a strong performance on medium tires, before securing the top spot on the soft compound by setting a time of 1m 12.462s. The session was extremely close with Verstappen’s time only 0.065s ahead of Leclerc, with Sainz slightly behind by a few hundredths of a second.
Unfortunately, the session took a downturn for the Scuderia when Sainz made a mistake. He collided with the right-hand side wall at Turn 15, then went over the kerbs and crashed into the barriers at the exit of Turn 16. This incident caused damage to his car and resulted in the red flags being waved.
Despite placing fourth for Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team, two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso, was disappointed with his performance. He has been speaking all week about his aims to convert his recent podium finishes into a victory during the weekend in Monaco but today he wasn’t able to challenge how he would have liked. However, Alonso expressed frustration over encountering traffic during his runs on the soft tires, Alonso claimed he was left speechless by the positioning of the other cars on track.
Lando Norris, after spending the initial part of the session making adjustments to his car’s setup, managed to secure an impressive fifth place in his McLaren, as they look to score their first big points of the season. He outperformed fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton in the upgraded Mercedes and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.
Valtteri Bottas performed strongly as he led the charge for Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake, securing an eighth-place finish. Meanwhile, the BWT Alpine F1 Team duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon outperformed Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Mercedes’ George Russell, securing the final two spots in the top 10.
Zhou Guanyu finished three-tenths of a second slower than his teammate and finished in 13th place. Following him were the Haas F1 Team pair of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, with Hulkenberg making a recovery from his incident in the first practice session of the day. Yuki Tsunoda suffered a puncture when he made contact with the wall at Turn 10, but was still able to finish ahead of under pressure teammate, Nyck de Vries.
Oscar Piastri had a quiet session for McLaren F1 Team, recording a lap time that was approximately eight-tenths of a second slower than Norris. The Williams Racing drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, finished at the bottom of the timesheets. Albon faced significant setbacks as he could only join the session in the final 10 minutes due to a crash in FP1. The Williams mechanics were forced to replace multiple components, including the gearbox, front wing, rear wing, floor, and front-left suspension on his car, leaving Albon with much less practice time than the other 19 drivers.
Verstappen will be the favourite to take pole position, but both Ferrari drivers will be looking to challenge him as well as Alonso. Mercedes look to be making progress too with their new upgrade package, and if Hamilton was to challenge for pole position, he’d have the chance to equal the record, which is held by Aryton Senna. The Formula 1 action returns tomorrow morning with Free Practice Three before the all-important qualifying session, which will determine where the drivers start in the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.
